This invention relates to a percolating water drainage system which may be installed in building foundations to provide for the collection and removal of water seeping through the foundation.
Heretofore, numerous methods in the art of drainage have been applied to subterranean foundations which are susceptible to fluid seepage, typically water. Porous building materials, such as concrete block commonly used in all phases and types of construction are susceptible to percolation of water and seepage through the material and into the interior portion of the structure. This percolation of water seeks the porous building material as a means of drainage, in comparison with packed earth or other compressed compositions existing adjacent to the building foundation. The natural currents of the percolation of the water through the porous building materials cannot be prevented without major expense after the excavation, construction and grading of the building area has occurred. During the construction of the foundation, numerous efforts have been undertaken to prevent this percolating water from entering the interior of the structure.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,268 provides an elaborate mechanism for the interior drainage of a basement wall structure utilizing a drainage conduit. U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,460 utilizes the placement of a special angled member engaging the footer of the structure, the wall of the structure and the subterranean flooring of the structure. Special channels within this angled member provide drainage from the interior of the wall to the area beneath the subterranean floor. U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,672 provides a baseboard around the periphery of the inside wall of the foundation providing drainage onto the interior subterranean floor into which further drainage equipment has been set. These three patents provide drainage structures which take the percolating water from the existing foundation wall and place it onto the subterranean floor. Promotion of a pathway from the exterior of the foundation wall to the interior encourages percolating water to transfer into the interior of the structure. Transfer of the water by this means creates a deleterious effect on the overall support of the building foundation through time.
Another method for drainage of the percolating water is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,829, wherein an additional structure is provided at an angle within the footer of the building structure which connects the drain tile outside of the building wall and a porous granular passageway from that point to the drain tile located beneath the subterranean floor. Once again, these two patents teach a method of drainage of percolating water which encourages flow from the exterior of the building structure to the interior of the building structure either through the building blocks or immediately beneath them. Any defects in such a drainage system would leave the subterranean floor susceptible to percolating water flow without adequate drainage therefrom.
Elaborate systems to provide drain tile to concrete foundations have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,323, wherein the structure of the drain is interposed within the wall casting. Such a structure is not adaptable to the typical porous building materials known to those skilled in the art, because there is no transfer of flow from the structure to the drain tile.
Other drainage methods are typified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,982, wherein an elaborate system of base building blocks has been modified to permit drainage freely between the building structure and other subterranean drainage structures. A special modification of such building block is costly to the building art and the use of slots in the lower surface of the lowest building block renders it susceptible to obstructions which could not be removed without reexcavation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,487 teaches the interconnection of the sump pump with concrete channels connected to an interior conduit system which is then pumped to a drain spout located on the eave of the building structure. Such an elaborate system is extremely costly and difficult to maintain, with any prospect of breakdown again drawing water into the interior of the building structure.
Consequently, no device in the art provides an inexpensive and simplified system for draining water from building foundations to the exterior of the building structure. The art teaches either an elaborate system of modifications to the existing building blocks, or added equipment which brings water into the interior of the structure for complete drainage.